This story I told for Michigan’s Electric Coop Association (MECA) is one of my favorites in recent memory. Of all my travels to developing countries I’ve produced stories around famine, drought, HIV/AIDS, poverty, and community development to name a few. But, I’ve never focused on electricity and how it can help be a part of the solution in all of the above issues. This project came from a referral from my client at National Rural Electric Coop Assoc (NRECA). My client at MECA saw my past projects for NRECA and said they my mix of artistry, narrative storytelling, and the authenticity of the messaging were a perfect fit for them.

I collaborated with my client to produce a narrative story arc that was aligned with the important messages about the volunteer linemen from Mich. going to Guatemala to bring power to this remote area. I believe that the why questions in life are more important than the how questions in life. I approach storytelling in the same way. For this story, the why–shortened life expectancy, lack of enterprise that keeps them in poverty–informs every part of this effort to send 10 people on a two-week 1000 mile journey. The how is the work that the linemen are doing. But that doesn’t really matter until we explore the why and invest people in this why. After that I lead people through the how and the what. So, that is the story I pre-produced with my client and the we lined up to speak share their story through our fixer in Guatemala.

At one point during pre-production, my client found out that she would also need some storytelling photos for various internal and external publications. My background is in photojournalism, and producing both video and photo stories simultaneously for USA TODAY, so naturally this was not a problem. My client saw the value in hiring only one person who could do both at a high level and who also knew how to align both mediums with their brand and messaging. All in all I was in the village of Buena Vista for 48 very wet hours.

After we were done with revisions, my client told me this video was better than anything they could have imagined. They leveraged the photo assets for a photo book, blog entries, magazines, and more. Anyhow, enough words. Watch the video, enjoy the photos, and go do something selfless today.

Awesome project alert! One of my clients invited me into something special this fall. They wanted help producing the visual side of their annual project that honors the veterans on their team. Leidos has been doing this Heroes of Leidos project for a number of years but this is the first time they hired a professional photographer to tell this story. In the past, they relied on photos supplied by the veterans they profiled. You’ll see some of those pictures in the profile stories below. Those photos give great context to their military service but they are missing aspects of their lives now which helps make the connection from serving in the military to joining the Leidos team. Our goal was to highlight each veterans honorable choices and I think we nailed it! I created some visual themes that unified our series and I provided location options for each portrait. With DC in our backyard, the options that aligned with our message were plentiful. I couldn’t be happier with the results. We decided to highlight 6 veterans in all and you can see all my portraits in the looping slideshow on the Heroes of Leidos page.

Many thanks to Ed and his team for showing the value of great photography on this project and getting it off the ground. They created a a beautiful and responsive display to highlight our pictures. Nany thanks to Moses (below) for spending a Friday evening with me and Ed and helping us make one of my favorite photos of the series.

This has been making the rounds on social media. Check it out. Every portrait was successful and told a completely different story. This informs us of two great truths. 1. We all have a perspective or bias 2. Story is everything.

As a photographer & video producer, story informs every aspect of my images and productions. Understanding and powerfully communicating visual stories about people, brands, and messages is what separates the wheat from the chaff in the visual world.

Projects and productions like this remind me of the power of visual story and why I do what I do. Last year my wife and I made a commitment to do more to serve our own community. We’ve been volunteering a little bit with Generosity Feeds for the past 3 years but we decided to get more involved. We love their heart and mission to help kids break the cycle of poverty by partnering with local schools to provide healthy meals. Studies have shown that 1 in 5 children in America struggle with hunger and this goes on to have lasting effects on their lives.

One way I helped was by consulting with the President of Generosity Feeds. I listened to some of his goals, analyzed his existing marketing and video assets and I suggested that we would be able to better communicate the Generosity Feeds story by showing who is affected by these meals. I knew this would better communicate to their existing supporters as well as and bring on new supporters.

In my commercial photography projects with FNH USA they needed more advertising photography for some of their larger caliber handguns like the FNX-45 tactical as well as their own, smaller FiveseveN caliber handgun.

I’ve been working on some gun photography projects for FNH USA. I’ve been working with their communications director to produce some images that they can use for advertising and handouts to industry publications that want to feature or review their products.

Our daughter ate her first 100% organic snow cone today. Tonight when we left the house she asked to touch the snow. She reached down and grabbed it with both hands. Before I could blink, she was double-fisting the snow and trying to feed it to me. After her third bite she looked up at me and said “nummy”. Enjoy my latest 4K video production. Shot with a Sony PXW-FS7, Canon 24-105 f/4, Canon 300 2.8 f/2.8 and A few Metabones adapters.

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About Garrett

Garrett Hubbard is a visual storyteller. He utilizes both video & still photography to connect his clients with their audience. He has spent the past four years with USA TODAY—taking him to the White House, the Olympics, The Royal Wedding, and many other places around the world.

Garrett is thankful for the trust he receives from those who invite him to tell their stories and is grateful for mentors and friends who have invested in his life story.